STROKE victim Bob Butler has welcomed the start of work on a new £3million ward at a rehabilitation unit for recovering stroke patients.

The new 20-bed ward at the Royal Leamington Spa Rehabilitation Hospital, in Heathcote Lane, is designed to reduce the time patients to wait for vital which will help many of them learn to walk and talk again.

Mr Butler, aged 68, suffered a massive stroke last March which left him unable to walk or talk.

An estimated four minutes from death, the retired store-man was airlifted to hospital from his home in Avon Dassett, south Warwickshire.

After enduring a second stroke while undergoing life-saving surgery in hospital in Oxford, Mr Butler was eventually considered well enough to begin rehabilitation nearer his home in Leamington.

Although his arrival there was initially delayed by a lack of beds, he has made stunning progress since moving there.

And he believes the new 20-bed ward will give other stroke victims speedier access to the help they need to rebuild their skills.

Mr Butler said: "The staff at the hospital are excellent. It is really like a hotel. The only problem is that it can take a while to get into it.

"The new plans look very good. It will be better equipped than it is at the moment, there will be more beds and less time to wait."

Describing the progress he had made since going into the unit, Mr Butler added: "I can now walk with a frame, my speech is improving all the time and I am able to move my hands and feet.

"Everyone is delighted with my progress; the treatment I have had here has really turned things around.

"And the fact it is in Leamington is very handy.

"I see my wife three times a week and my daughters are also able to come regularly because they work locally."

The new unit will be an extension of the existing Feldon Ward at the rehabilitation hospital.

The ward will be divided into single-sex bays with four or six beds and should be ready for use by April 2006.